Anglican Pacifist Fellowshiphttps://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk
The Anglican Communion’s Movement for PeaceTue, 18 Dec 2018 10:52:46 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9LIFTED UP.https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/lifted-up/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/lifted-up/#respondTue, 11 Dec 2018 13:31:24 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2311We hate being helpless and vulnerable, and we spend much energy, time and money on building up our defences, even though we know that the Blessings are given to people poor in spirit and meek, to people who are mourners and peacemakers.

It would have been on a stable floor, dampened by blood tinged liquor, that Jesus took his first

breath of air. Had he remained on the floor unattended, hypothermia would have set in.

But someone lifted him up from between his mother’s thighs and placed him in the safety of her

arms.

Mary may have done this herself, or it might have been a kind woman of Bethlehem, or it might

even have been Joseph, forced by circumstance into a world normally reserved for women. Not

surprisingly Matthew and Luke do not tell us these details, but Luke does say that Jesus was

wrapped in swaddling cloths. This is an undoubted sign that some normal procedures were

available, even if a manger was not the right place for a newborn. Swaddling cloths are also a sign

that the baby was loved, cherished and accepted by his parents. We do not know whether the cloths

were obtained locally, or were carried to Bethlehem by Mary and Joseph.

Childbirth was very much women’s business and normally the labouring mother would have close

friends and family with her to encourage and physically support her through her pains. They would

continue to help with the actual birth and the immediate care of the baby. If all this were done by

Joseph, as we often imagine, then The Holy Family was shamefully abandoned.

Mary and Joseph were strangers to Bethlehem as were many others arriving for the census, so life in

town must have been pretty chaotic. However I think it likely that one or two women deserted their

lucrative kitchens to help the young girl in her need.

Mary had said ‘yes’ to the conception, but from that moment on the normal physiological processes

of pregnancy and birth would have taken over without the need for any further conscious decisions

on her part. Until that moment when Jesus lay on the stable floor. We do not know who lifted him

up to warmth and safety, but it was the first conscious act of kindness that he received on earth.

God was so vulnerable and empty of power that his very life was dependent upon someone lifting

him to the warmth of his mother’s breast.

We do not know who it was, but I am sure that when Mary told the young Jesus how he came to be

born in Bethlehem, she would have lovingly remembered the names of those who helped her.

Many years later at his arrest, Jesus once again made his life totally dependent upon the decisions of

others. (John 18.5.6.) At the moment he declared this, his captors stepped back and fell to the

ground in awe, for they must have seen the Glory of God in his face as he stood before them. So his

helplessness as a baby was not an unfortunate aberration to be left behind as soon as possible, as

his adult moment of vulnerability and total dependence on others had revealed God’s Glory.

We hate being helpless and vulnerable, and we spend much energy, time and money on building up

our defences, even though we know that the Blessings are given to people poor in spirit and meek,

to people who are mourners and peacemakers.

Jesus shows us that to be defenceless and vulnerable is not shameful but is a situation where we can

unexpectedly glimpse God’s Glory.

I marvel that the Creator of the universe can owe his earthly life to being lifted up by an ordinary

pair of hands. It is a great responsibility.

Contributed by APF Member, Jonathan Hartfield – I Grew up in Hastings UK. Trained at St.Georges Hospital. Had an exciting and turbulent time in Nigeria in 60s. Moved to NZ in 1971. Worked as specialist in Obst &Gyn and later in palliative care in a Hospice. Retired from medicine in 2013. Ordained priest in 1986. I have 4 children 9 grand children. I am an enthusiastic gardener and a choir singer.

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

HANUKKAH celebrates the re-dedication of the second Temple in Jerusalem in BC 164. (Ist Maccabees 4.v.36f) The Temple had been defiled by the Persian invasion of Antiochus Epiphanes. He had imposed the worship of Zeus. Judas Maccabaeus led the revolt against Antiochus, and the Temple was purified and rededicated. They built a new altar, set out the loaves, offered the incense sacrifice and lighted the lamps. The remaining oil kept the lamps alight for eight days. The Temple had been reclaimed and was now fit for its purpose. Every year, this festival of light is celebrated with the eight branched Menorah.

In the time of Jesus, St John’s Gospel (10.22) refers to this as the Festival of Dedication. At another festival, the Passover, Jesus cleansed the Temple by driving out the animal sellers and money changers. He was reclaiming it as the house of prayer for all nations.

Reclaiming a situation for its proper purpose is a redemptive constituent of peacemaking.

I remember when I was Vicar in Shepherd’s Bush, discovering vandals in Church when I went to unlock it ready for a school service. The reserved sacrament and aumbry light had been stolen. A man was hammering to break down the vestry door; and hassocks were laid out and covered with the altar cloth like a giant bed. The vandals fled through the entry door they had forced. The children were due for their service in an hour or two. I contacted the School Caretaker, thinking we should cancel the service. But then I realised that the prayers of children would be the best way to reclaim the Church. We tidied the Church as best we could, and lit the candles for the celebration of the Holy Communion.

On another occasion, I was returning home to the Church and found a Police cordon following some fatal shootings across the road, at Nando’s restaurant and the street outside. Nando’s had to close for repairs, so on the day it was reopened, a neighbouring Vicar and I went for lunch and sat in the table nearest the window. It was a very small gesture, but our support in reclaiming the restaurant for its true purpose.

In Jesus, the light which enlightens everyone has come into the world.

Donald Reece – In 1956 during the Suez crisis, I was aware that my developing faith in Christ crucified showed an alternative way. I discovered the Fellowship of Reconciliation basis for the enthronement of love in personal, commercial and national life. I became a conscientious objector to National Service which was supported by Gerald Ellison, the Bishop of Chester who had recently blessed a nuclear submarine. I was ordained in 1960, married Julia in 1963 and we have three sons and four grandsons. We served in Warrington, Matlock, Sheffield, Zimbabwe, Leicester and London, mostly in urban priority and multicultural parishes. We now live in retirement in Oxford, and I am also involved in the Oxpeace Network

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

A Morning Prayer reading in October was the story of Elisha at the time of the King of Syria invading Israel. (2 Kings 6.v8f) Elisha told the King of Israel a number of times exactly where the Syrians would attack. The Syrian King heard about Elisha and that he was in Dothan; so he sent his officers to capture him.

Elisha prayed to the Lord to strike the invaders with sun blindness, and he then persuaded the Syrians to follow him. He led them to Samaria, the capital city. When the King of Israel saw them he asked Elisha if he should kill them; but

Elisha told him to offer them food and water

and let them go back to their master.

Syrian raiding parties never invaded Israel again.

This glimpse of God’s way of making peace prepares people for what Jesus was to say and do. Jesus said,

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.(Mat 5. v44).

And for those involved in crucifying him, Jesus prayed,

Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.(Luke 23.v34).

From Easter onwards this earthly prayer of Jesus has been embracing earth and heaven universally and continues eternally.

Remember also that it was in Syria, on the way to Damascus, that Paul was also blinded when he experienced the love of Jesus.

It was St Paul who later advised the Romans

If your enemy is hungry give him something to eat;

if he is thirsty give him something to drink.

Let us enter into the eternal wounded prayer of Christ for all people involved in Syria today.

Donald Reece – In 1956 during the Suez crisis, I was aware that my developing faith in Christ crucified showed an alternative way. I discovered the Fellowship of Reconciliation basis for the enthronement of love in personal, commercial and national life. I became a conscientious objector to National Service which was supported by Gerald Ellison, the Bishop of Chester who had recently blessed a nuclear submarine. I was ordained in 1960, married Julia in 1963 and we have three sons and four grandsons. We served in Warrington, Matlock, Sheffield, Zimbabwe, Leicester and London, mostly in urban priority and multicultural parishes. We now live in retirement in Oxford, and I am also involved in the Oxpeace Network

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/syria/feed/0Remembrance & Healinghttps://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/remembrance-healing/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/remembrance-healing/#respondFri, 02 Nov 2018 09:02:15 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2214Each year on Remembrance Sunday I remember the cemetery at Salerno, I remember the uncle I never knew except through photos, I remember the sadness, the pain that war leaves in its wake. And I remember the words on his grave stone: It is sad to pen a memorial for one we loved so dear.

I was always very fond of my maternal grandfather. He was what some might describe as dour – not bad-tempered, just not given to shows of emotion; never exuberant but never grumpy either. You knew what to expect from Pa and I always felt comfortable around him.

Except ….. when the war, or my uncle Bert (his son who was killed in the war) were mentioned – his eyes would fill with tears and he’d either quickly look away or leave the room. As a young child I always wondered what terrible thing it was that evoked such an emotional response in my Pa.

I’ve always wondered if those early experiences, witnessing that raw grief, are what led me to pacifism.

I remember in my teens learning about the Second World War at school and asking my Mum about her brother. He was 11 years older than her but they were very close, Mum was only 12 when Bert was killed in Salerno, Italy in 1943. In the months following his death, letters from him would pop through the letterbox and it was her job to get to the door before her mother saw them. The family’s way of coping was simply not to mention Bert’s death, it was never spoken about. Over twenty years later it was clear to me that my mum’s grief was still raw.

I wondered if visiting Bert’s grave would help heal the wound. Mum wasn’t sure, but we started to make enquiries. Through the Scots Guards (Bert’s regiment) mum got in touch with a man who had been with Bert on the day he was killed. She never managed to meet him but they corresponded for a short time, and that meant a lot to her.

Then Mum and I went on a British Legion pilgrimage to Salerno war cemetery where Bert is buried. Her parents had never been able to afford to visit their son’s grave, so my mum was the only family member who knew Bert ever to visit his grave.

I went with some trepidation, thinking I would spend the time biting my tongue, struggling to keep respectfully silent about my views on war! However, my experience was quite the opposite. The majority of the veterans, visiting the graves of fallen comrades, spoke strongly against the futility of war. Most of them, like my mum, had been left with emotional wounds, however the acts of remembrance on these trips were a healing balm.

The war cemeteries are hauntingly beautiful, sad places. It was a deeply emotional trip, especially for mum, but also deeply healing. When she came home she looked through boxes of old family photos and brought out photos of her brother – I have a lovely framed one that she wanted me to have when she died. She fondly shared stories of her childhood memories of her ‘big brother’. It sounds strange but through the act of remembrance, the war graves pilgrimage, she found him again.

Each year on Remembrance Sunday I remember the cemetery at Salerno, I remember the uncle I never knew except through photos, I remember the sadness, the pain that war leaves in its wake. And I remember the words on his grave stone: It is sad to pen a memorial for one we loved so dear.

Jan Benvie is a member and trustee of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. She served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq and Palestine from 2005-2010, carrying out human rights monitoring, hazardous accompaniment and violence reduction work. Since returning home to Scotland she has continued her work for a just peace in Palestine/Israel and is secretary of the Scottish Palestinian Forum. A retired Primary School teacher, Jan is a member of the management committee of the Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre, focusing particularly on their peacebuilding work in Edinburgh primary schools. She is a member of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis and is the Scottish representative for Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation. She is an active member of St Margaret’s Scottish Episcopal church in Rosyth, Fife.

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/remembrance-healing/feed/0The Peacemakershttps://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/2192/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/2192/#respondThu, 11 Oct 2018 11:09:30 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2192God is the author of peace and the giver of peace. How should that challenge us today?

]]>“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthews 5: 9).

The Author of Peace

There is a great reward for peace making. This Bible verse attests that God’s children are blessed because they are peacemakers. God’s children are known for peace making. They are called peacemakers. God’s children must reflect the image and likeness of God and His Son Jesus Christ. In the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Communion, God is called “the author of peace and lover of concord”. God is a peacemaker. One of the names given to God is Jehovah-Shalom, “The Lord is our peace” (Judges 6: 24). “Shalom” does not denote the absence of trouble, but the peace of God in the midst of it. This peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Peace-giver

Jesus Christ is a peacemaker. He is well known as the peace giver. Christ is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9: 6. “Christ is our peace; He has reconciled us to God in one body by the cross. We meet in His name and share His peace”. The first thing a person experience after giving his or her life to Christ is peace, because the Prince of Peace now lives within. The only way to experience peace is to embrace the Prince of Peace. In this world of war and turbulence, we can have peace if we truly surrender to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ can calm any storm. He calmed several storms when He was here on earth (Matthew 14: 24 – 32; Mark 4: 39), and there is no storm in people’s lives that He cannot calm.

The Peacemakers

God’s children are peacemakers. Our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthews 5: 9). “Notice, God promised to bless peacemakers. Peacemakers know the value of peace, and they pay the price. Peacemakers follow the path of peace; and they enjoy the benefits. We are called to be peacemakers and promoters of oneness in the body of Christ (Colossians 3: 15). When we have an issue with someone, Jesus said we should take certain steps. First, go and try to resolve it privately. If that does not work, take someone with you who can help. If that fails, take it to the church leadership; and if the person still refuses to be reconciled, then love them and leave them in God’s hands (Matthew 18: 15 – 17). It may not be a “How-to-Win-Friends-and-Influence-People” approach to conflict resolution, but it is God’s way.

What about you?

Apostle Paul said, “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” (Romans 12: 18). For example, Apostle Paul was willing to forgo eating certain foods that were offensive to others (1 Corinthians 8: 13). What about you? Are you doing your part? What efforts are you making “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3)? If Christ lives in you, shouldn’t people feel His presence when they are in your presence? If you are in the church committee, shouldn’t the church be blessed? Shouldn’t you be a peace making agent solving problems and helping the church grow? The church is not perfect. Nobody said it was. But whatever is wrong with the church is man’s doing, not God’s. To keep the unity of the body of Christ is not going to be easy. But we must do it with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love (Ephesians 4: 1 – 3).

How are you contributing to peace, unity, progress and development of your environment? Peace making should be a team effort (Hebrews 10: 24, 25). It is commendable that leaders of governments are coming together under the umbrella of a United Nations (UN) trying to solve the problems of war around the world. Human government is expected to promote the general welfare and peace of the community where its laws are in effect. Apostle Paul commends us to pray for community leaders “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2: 1, 2). We are God’s children. Let us then pursue all that makes for peace and build up our common life.

Rev. Canon Nelson Iluno is an Anglican Minister ordained in July 28, 2002. He is 2018 – 2019 student of Master of Advanced Studies in Ecumenical Studies at Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland. Holds post graduate degrees in Theology and Church History from Crowther Graduate Theological Seminary, Abeokuta, and is a graduate of West Africa Theological Seminary, Lagos. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Calvary Compass magazine of the House of Clergy, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). He is the author of Spiritual Formation, Give to the Winds Your Fears, and A Glossary of Ecclesiastical and Liturgical Terms, and has written numerous articles, contributed to daily devotional guides, and edits the Nnewi Diocesan Mothers’ Union annual magazine.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/2192/feed/0Love in the time of Trumphttps://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/love-in-the-time-of-trump/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/love-in-the-time-of-trump/#respondTue, 25 Sep 2018 17:52:29 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2158I’ve been looking at all the posts on social media around John McCain - those lifting up his good points and those lifting up his bad points - and I’ve found myself asking, when is enough, enough? How can we honour the good while not discounting the bad, even when it is repugnant to us?

I’ve been looking at all the posts on social media around John McCain – those lifting up his good points and those lifting up his bad points – and I’ve found myself asking, when is enough, enough? How can we honour the good while not discounting the bad, even when it is repugnant to us?

In August the Episcopal Church lifted up Louis King of France, who died in 1270. He was lauded for his ‘purity of life and manners’ believing that the crown was given to him by God and ‘God would hold him accountable for his reign.’ He led a crusade against the Muslims and official action against Jews. In the Collect, the bad stuff isn’t raised, just the good.

And I look at some of the coalitions doing justice work these days and note that they often find a piece of common ground on which to stand while not agreeing on everything. Sometimes it’s a fine line between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ stuff. So how can we honor the good while not discounting the bad? We are all flawed children of God after all.

It was not lost on me, as I wandered in and out of coverage of the memorial service for John McCain at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul that the music accompanying the casket as it was moved out of the cathedral was from Gustav Holst’s suite ‘The Planets.’ There is a set of words which accompany it, found in my edition of ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern New Standard’ written by Cecil Spring-Rice:

I vow to thee my country, all earthly things above,

Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.

The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,

That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best.

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,

The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country I’ve heard of long ago,

Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know.

We may not count her armies, we may not see her king,

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering.

And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,

And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

How appropriate for an epitaph for John McCain.

It also was not lost on me when I heard the music that my friend Sue Gilmurray, composer and lyricist, had written a song in 1998 which we sang on the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship/Episcopal Peace Fellowship peace pilgrimage to the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Communion bishops. While she wrote a tune unique to the words, she commented that the words would scan to ‘I vow to thee my country.’ As a struggling pacifist, and with my sometimes warped sense of humour, I found that thought somehow delicious.

Here are the words for ‘The firing of the heart’:

There’s a flame that burns with shining zeal and patriotic pride

When our love for our own country means contempt for those outside.

It’s a flame we’ll have no part in, we will follow it no more,

For we need the warmth of brotherhood and not the heat of war.

And the flame that we would pass along to our daughters and our sons

Is the firing of the heart against the firing of the guns.

There’s a flame that warms the human heart when words of peace are said,

When we turn our backs on killing and we work for life instead.

We will raise a strong united voice the world cannot ignore,

As we spread the warmth of brotherhood and not the heat of war.

And the flame that we would pass along to our daughters and our sons

Is the firing of the heart against the firing of the guns.

We refuse to hate our neighbours. We will not believe the lies

When our leaders tell us bloodshed is a noble enterprise.

Though each one alone feels powerless, yet each one can play a part,

Building peace with love and courage by the firing of the heart.

And the flame that we would pass along to our daughters and our sons

Is the firing of the heart against the firing of the guns.

These two sets of words are an example of the kinds of tensions which I raised around the commentaries on the death of John McCain.

I invite us to live with these tensions as we work for a world of human rights, peace and justice leading to healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Donna Hicks has been a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship since 1985 and joined the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship somewhere along that way. She participated in the 1998 and 2008 peace pilgrimages to the Lambeth Conference. Her primary work is on Palestine and she has been a member of the leadership team of EPF’s Palestine Israel Network and its predecessor action group/network for many years and is an EPF PIN representative to the cross-denominational Palestine Israel Network groups organized in part by Friends of Sabeel North America and others. She served with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron, Palestine, from 2002-2009, doing human rights monitoring, hazardous accompaniment and violence reduction work. She is a member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Durham North Carolina and of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. She particularly treasures her time with the Network of Christian Peace Organisations, APF and FOR at a number of Greenbelt gatherings.

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/love-in-the-time-of-trump/feed/0How should we remember?https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/how-should-we-remember/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/how-should-we-remember/#respondWed, 19 Sep 2018 10:53:08 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2152Anglican Peacemakers across the UK are looking to the Centenary of the Armistice as a time in which we view ‘remembering’ as one stage in a continually journey towards peace. So how will you remember?

On November 11 2018, the Centenary of the Armistice that ended World War 1 will be remembered.

Anglican Peacemakers across the UK are looking to the Centenary of the Armistice as a time in which we view ‘remembering’ as one stage in a continually journey towards peace. As a time in which we acknowledge that the best way to honour those who have died in war, is to work tirelessly towards the end of the need for war.

So how should we remember? What will your Church or community be doing?

Here are some thoughts by Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop of Manchester;

Remembering War

The first task of those committed to the way of peace is, I would argue, precisely to ensure that war continues to be remembered and that it continues to be remembered primarily for its tragic consequences at the level of the individual and family.

In 2016 I had the privilege of taking part in the national commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. The ceremony was held at Manchester Cathedral, in recognition of the fact that huge numbers of men from this region lost their lives on that first most bloody day of that most bloody of all World War One battles. Passages were read from letters written the night before and during the battle, including one from a German soldier. These were the last recorded words of very ordinary men whose lives would be obliterated just a few hours later.

Later that year, there was a service to dedicate six pavement plaques in honour of men who had won the VC during that same war. With the Order of Service, we were given short biographies of those whose deeds were being recalled. These included, not just accounts of their bravery in battle, but also what became of them afterwards. Often soldiers’ lives after the War were very ordinary, whilst others suffered terribly with what we would now recognize as PTSD.

In neither of these services did I detect any desire to glorify war or to portray it as celebration of victory. In each case the human dimension, in all its complexity, and the human cost, was vividly central. There is a shared mourning and lamentation amongst all who stop to reflect on war and its impact on humanity

It is not easy to know how best to remember the horrors of war and the relief that must have been felt as it ended, many people struggle to know how we as Christians should reflect on such anniversaries. In recognition of this, at APF we have produced a resource to help Church leaders and communities looking to remember with a focus on peace.

In the lead up to the Centenary of the Armistice we would love to hear how you and your community will Remember? Do you have any personal prayers or reflections on peace? Please either comment on this post or email; Tilly@anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk . We will collect all these thoughts as part of a reflection for Armistice weekend?

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/how-should-we-remember/feed/0‘We have a second chance to get it right…’https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/we-have-a-second-chance-to-get-it-right/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/we-have-a-second-chance-to-get-it-right/#commentsSun, 08 Jul 2018 08:19:18 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2063On Sunday, General Synod will debate nuclear weapons. APF welcomes this opportunity for the Church to take a lead in removing these weapons of mass destruction.

On Sunday, General Synod will debate nuclear weapons. APF welcomes this opportunity for the Church to take a lead in removing these weapons of mass destruction.

In debating this crucial issue, the Church cannot stand by the side and leave others to confront the UK Government about our possession of nuclear weapons. The possession of nuclear weapons by the UK, (i.e. Trident) is incompatible with the two possible Christian theologies of war – both ‘Just War’ and pacifism. Yes, the UK should both carry out the commitments that it has under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and commit with other nations under the UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, but in doing so it must show how these actions will lead to the UK no longer possessing nuclear weapons.

I have recently been reminded of this quote from General Lee Butler, former commander in chief, United States Strategic Command, controlling all US nuclear weapons. He said:

‘We have escaped a nuclear holocaust so far by some combination of skill, luck and divine intervention. Our Creator has given us a second chance to get it right. There is no guarantee of a third chance.’

Our prayers will be with all in the debate. Will the Church take this ‘second chance’ to stand up for the elimination of nuclear weapons?

A Message by Anglican Pacifist Fellowship Chair, Sue Claydon

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

Before 90 minutes of a Match is played, we’d score a series of blistering goals.

Trident has 48 warheads to erase half a million humans a piece,

It only takes one Head of War, to end earth’s fragile peace.

Missile flight time – 30 minutes, and the same time for sibling missiles to follow,

three volleys would be possible, before Trident was finally hollow.

Housewives idly at windows holding babes in arms, old cigar smokers playing dominoes, when they hear the alarms.

Preachers closeted in pulpits proclaiming:

“The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.”

But there is no one to greet the arrival of our Lord, as the welcomers lie impaled on our strident nuclear swords.

Nuclear Winter, darkened skies,

Sooty clouds, now a mirror of the Sun’s reflection,

Golgotha chills and silences, with scant hope of Resurrection.

Crops fail, cities totaled, cold survivors huddle in

radioactive playgrounds, shivering under the eclipse,

Revenge removes the mask of justice,

laughing into the abyss.

But who is left to hear the shout of victory?

As earth’s refugees wash up on Heavens shores,

preparations are rushed, as this mass arrival, was premature.

Azariah is journeying through life expressing himself as a priest, a parent, a spouse, and a storyteller.

As a son of African-Caribbean parents and a descendant of African slaves an awakening sense of justice creates the necessity for the pursuit of peace by peaceful means.

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.

]]>https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/nuclear-deterrents-a-poem/feed/1A bomb that keeps exploading!https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/a-bomb-that-keeps-exploading/
https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/peacemaker-post/a-bomb-that-keeps-exploading/#respondThu, 05 Jul 2018 12:11:30 +0000https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/?post_type=peacemaker-post&p=2058Nuclear warfare is different, as those who survive the first blast are never freed from it’s consequences.

It is integral as we debate the ethics of Nuclear Weapons that we remember that they are different from ‘conventional’ weapons because of the long term affects of radiation.

As an ex obstetrician I think of the uranium tipped bullets and shells used in Iraq. A small amount of radiation compared with a bomb, but enough to get into the dust, earth and food chain, causing fetal abnormalities from mothers who have taken in such poison. For those abnormal babies that packed the hospitals there was a lifetime of innocent suffering ahead. The lucky ones died.

I think of my student friend who was at the Christmas Island tests during his time of national service. He died 10 years ago of a rare leukaemia thought to be a result of the radiation ( The US army paid for some of his drugs).

So Nuclear warfare is different, as those who survive the first blast are never freed from it’s consequences. They live on with death now resident in their cells. An unwelcome guest who stealthily destroys their host by corrupting the basic processes of life and bringing death by abnormal division. The damage can even spread into the next generation through genetic mutation.

So when we consider the ethics of Nuclear Warfare, we must remember that this will never just be a weapon in the present, but will have deeply damaging implications for future generations. This is a bomb which effectively keeps exploading!

So we must ask ourselves, if any innocent life is irreparably damaged for the rest of their life, as well as those into the next generation, how could that ever be deemed ethically tenable?

Contributed by APF Member, Jonathan Hartfield – I Grew up in Hastings UK. Trained at St.Georges Hospital. Had an exciting and turbulent time in Nigeria in 60s. Moved to NZ in 1971. Worked as specialist in Obst &Gyn and later in palliative care in a Hospice. Retired from medicine in 2013. Ordained priest in 1986. I have 4 children 9 grand children. I am an enthusiastic gardener and a choir singer.

Disclaimer: This blog is intended to provide a space for people associated with APF to express their own personal views and opinions in order to promote discussion of issues relating to peacemaking and pacifism It is not necessarily a place where the official views of APF are expressed.